my %config;
m[^([^#][^=]+)=(.*)$] and $config{ $1 } = $2 while <DATA>;
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You could even write this as:

my %config = map { /^([^#][^=]+)=(.*)$/ } <DATA>;
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There is an example somewhere in the perldocs that gives essentially the same technique for parsing simple config files, though I can't find it right now. I always thought it was ingenius & wonderfully succinct. It certainly applies nicely here.